See You Again (Time Already Knows) - Chapter 83
Chapter 83 - Another Late Autumn Two Years Later.
Another late autumn two years later.
“Today Yi Mao Apparel’s capital increased by 468 million RMB, speeding up the implementation of the diversification plan of Yi Mao Men’s Apparel, becoming a core part of our brand structure…… This was also the first business decision made by Yi Pei of the Yi Mao Group regarding Yi Mao Apparel after assuming the position of executive chairman in June of this year. According to the financial statements of Yi Mao Group for the first half of 2009, Yi Mao group has now completed the shareholding system reform and established a diversified development with real estate, branded menswear, and financial investment as its core entities. It has 36 wholly-owned affiliated companies, and real estate remains its core business……”
“A-City listed a one time offer of 4 plots of land this month, with a total starting price of more than 624 million yuan.”
“Yi Mao Real Estate is about to begin the Linxi Project. Tianmei Jia Park is estimated to be the most high profile residential project of A-City in 2011. Tianmei Jia Park……”
Shi Jian flipped through the pages of real estate news. She was leaned back on her chair. Suddenly, her shoulder was lightly tapped. She turned and looked at the colleague next to her. Her colleague was inviting her to lunch. Shi Jian stood and smiled.
At noon, the two each ordered their own company meal. Her colleague asked her curiously, “Jane, why won’t you interview at Yi Mao Real Estate? Yi Mao hired quite a lot of people this year.”
Shi Jian looked up and did not attempt to hide anything, “I was rejected……”
“Oh oh oh……” Her colleague nodded and continued, “Yi Mao Real Estate is becoming harder and harder to get into. But it’s not a big deal. Work at Yi Mao is also very intense. I have a friend working at Yi Mao who comes complaining to me everyday. But the salary and benefits are all very good.”
Shi Jian nodded to express regretfulness.
Indeed, it was very busy at Yi Mao, so busy that people often worked overtime. For example, the renowned Special Assistant Zhang was so busy that he found no time to settle down.
Zhang Kai used his afternoon break to meet a seafaring girl that his family had arranged for him. Zhang Kai was a prime bachelor in the market of blind dates. There was a continuous stream of people wanting to introduce women to him. After the afternoon meeting ended, Yi Pei had arranged for him to attend a business party at the last minute. Zhang Kai said a bit awkwardly, “President Yi, I thought I told you…… tonight I still have to……”
At Zhang Kai’s imitation of a young married woman, Yi Pei nodded and dropped the subject.
Zhang Kai was helpless. He was being pushed by his family so badly that he had no other option. He was at that age where he should be dealing with the big question. But having said that, he had won the advantage of Yi Mao after following A-Pei the past two years. It was time to consider his own issues. He had to balance his work and home life. The Yi family had also changed a lot in the past two years. Forefather Yi had already passed away, Madam Guo seemed to have no competent sons, and Yi Qindong suffered terrible misfortune, as if someone was deliberately messing with him. All of his activitieis had been exposed and he was sentenced once again. Only, the car accident involving Shi Jian and Ye Jiacheng two years ago was clearly strange. The Ye family not only did not hold anyone accountable, they also calmly accepted the fact that the car had malfunctioned, which led to the accident.
Why the Ye family would do this, Zhang Kai couldn’t understand. The only thing that could explain it was the Ye family’s hope for Shi Jian to go abroad with a peaceful mind, or maybe they didn’t want Shi Jian to know about the conflict between Ye Jiacheng and Yi Qindong.
If this was true, then the Ye family had given it a lot of thought, or maybe Father Ye had given it a lot of thought for his son.
Yi Mao Real Estate’s subsidiary branch in Qinglin City had been developing well. Everytime Zhang Kai went to Qinglin City, he would go visit Mayor Ye and Mrs.Ye. Then, he learned that Shi Jian would visit Qinglin City every few months.
Zhang Kai genuinely didn’t know that Shi Jian returned to Qinglin City every few months. They all lost contact with Shi Jian after she went abroad. Clearly, she also said that she would invite him to a meal in England when she was there studying. A woman without a kind heart…… Could he blame her?
How could he blame a woman who had been so harmed by destiny?
After Shi Jian went abroad, Zhang Kai had no contact with her at all, and did not bump into her once. Naturally, he did not know how she was doing abroad, until one time he and A-Pei visited the Ye family and he spotted a vacation photo of Shi Jian with Father Ye and Mother Ye. In the photo, Shi Jian had a bright smile and her arms wrapped around Father Ye and Mother Ye. The sunlight shone down on them with a smile, and her complexion seemed pretty good.
At least she looked better than the last time he saw her at the airport. And she was looking much better than she did in the half a year she’d spent in the hospital.
This photo looked like a photo taken of a family of three. No, it should have been a family of four…… All in all, Zhang Kai’s heart had clenched when he saw this photo, in a sorrowful and unmatched feeling.
When A-Pei saw this photo, his lips curled up in a small smile.
……
Zhang Kai had returned from yet another blind date. He was stopped by Emily, who asked him how it went. Zhang Kai told her about it happily and unhurriedly. He liked today’s date quite a bit. Her personality was open, and she spoke cutely. But he still had to get to know her better to get a more concrete feeling.
Zhang Kai already didn’t like women with big chests and long legs as much anymore. He also went to nightclubs very infrequently. Using his gang of scoundrels’ words, his personality became more and more boring…… He was becoming more and more like a businessman. Thus, sometimes boring people would occasionally encounter a person that would make them less boring and more comfortable. That feeling was like seeing the sunlight.
The Yi residence had been rebuilt once again. Living there as usual was still Madam Guo’s people. Madam Guo was still thinking up ways to get money from Yi Mao. Unexpectedly, Yi Biya had gotten married. She married before Forefather Yi passed away for an extra packet of gift money. The groom had a surname Fang, and he was also considered a wealthy man from an influential family in A-City. He had been playing around with his divorced ex-wife and wanted to kill. He was frequently on entertainment tabloids and was enthusiastically discussed by the gossips. Then after his ex-wife found a blonde-haired and blue-eyed boyfriend, Yi Biya became Mrs.Fang.
Some people squandered their days, some people passed their days calmly. Each person had their own way of living, and each didn’t respect the other. At the same time, some people lived kicking until their last breath, while others chose to accept their lives as they were.
Neither of these were smart people. Only, it was a pity compared to that: clearly they were smart people, but they did dumb things stubbornly, as they were trapped and hurt by their feelings.
Zhang Kai had rare free time after work today. An old friend had invited him to a bar for his birthday. When Zhang Kai arrived, a few friends immediately flattered him teasingly: “No ordinary people can see President Zhang anymore now. We few brothers still have some face.”
Zhang Kai was overjoyed. He squinted at the scene and said, “Isn’t this a birthday celebration? How come there isn’t even a cake?”
“Who comes to a bar to eat cake……?” His friends couldn’t take it and pulled him to a seat. They poured him a shot of vodka, “Punishment first!”
After Zhang Kai was working for Yi Pei, especially in the past two years where he rarely lived for himself, the balance of work and life was sometimes heavy on one side and light on the other. Zhang Kai gradually liked the busy life that his work brought him more and more. Occasionally he could still relax like this. Not bad! At least it was better for him than for A-Pei. A-Pei’s days were truly boring…… Of course this was Zhang Kai’s occasional groundless worry. He was a man busy with his family and his life of struggle. He had too many things and responsibilities to take care of. Even if he lacked the sprinkle of another person’s color in his life, his own life was still strong and powerful, as well as steady. Otherwise, A-Pei wouldn’t be A-Pei anymore, and he wouldn’t be able to win over the Yi family.
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These two years, A-Pei didn’t not have a woman appear by his side. There were numerous women who wanted to marry A-Pei and become Madam Guo’s woman, regardless of whether they were famous celebrities or women with good careers…… Of course, men were not so urgent about marriage sometimes. A-Pei currently had no family members who were pressing him, unlike Zhang Kai. If his own family weren’t pressing him, Zhang Kai also wouldn’t want to marry so soon.
After one of Zhang Kai’s blind dates once, he had asked A-Pei as a friend, “Isn’t the Yi family lacking a matron now?” Yi Pei went blank for a second. He knew what Zhang Kai wanted to say. He replied dully, “I can’t marry first just because the Yi family is lacking a matron…… Zhang Kai, I don’t want my marriage to become a family responsibility.” Zhang Kai understood. He used to even think that A-Pei didn’t have sexual urges and didn’t long for love, because those things were meaningless to A-Pei. The truth seemed to be the opposite. Only, once a man became more successful and wealthy, the pure emotions turned into a kind of longing that was difficult to obtain. If that woman who could move A-Pei’s heart and that he was willing to marry never appeared, would A-Pei give up his bustling daily life and career and turn into a leisurely prince like in those idol dramas chasing after true love?
Then the issue returned. A-Pei encountered so many women. How many times had his heart been moved? Zhang Kai didn’t dare ask this question anymore. Of the women that appeared beside A-Pei the past two years, let alone A-Pei, even Zhang Kai felt that none were suitable.
He was about done drinking his alcohol. A friend suddenly pointed at a woman nearby and said, “Hey, does that one looks good?”
“Which one?” Zhang Kai reacted. Turns out his friend was asking how he felt about the woman sitting across them.
Presently, more refined and quiet nightclubs were trendy. There were fewer nightclubs with the high of booming music and heated dancing. Many of them turned into relaxation and leisure spots for office workers, Thus, the bars didn’t lack women with big chests and long legs, nor did they lack white-collared, experienced women…… The woman sitting across from them was talking to a man. She was still very eye-catching, as if her whole person was glowing with a faint radiance.
“Isn’t her personality especially great? But why would this kind of quiet woman come to a bar?” His friend was chattering nonstop, “And the man next to her really isn’t anything special, old bastard……”
“The old bastard is the owner of this bar,” someone else reminded them.
“Oh……”
Zhang Kai squinted his eyes, still getting a look at them. He wasn’t wearing his glasses. He had more than 200 degrees nearsightedness and his eyesight wasn’t as good as his friends’. He looked for a long time, then felt that this woman was very familiar. She looked like Shi Jian with short hair.
Impossible. Zhang Kai subconsciously stamped that thought down. How would Shi Jian be in A-City? Even if she was in A-City, why would she be in a bar? And why would she be speaking to a man?
His friend didn’t care and had already taken out his phone. He pointed the camera in that direction and took a few photos with a smile.
Immoral!
After Zhang Kai got home, he leisurely took a shower and continued to work. After he finished all his work, he refreshed his social media page. He discovered that his friend had already uploaded the photos that he took earlier tonight. The two photos were blurry, and the angle was terrible. One was of her face, and one was of her back. Then there was a joking caption.
“A goddess that occasionally passes by the heart, hehehe, how do I get your number?”
Fail! His language was not at a passing level. Zhang Kai looked at the photos, staring at them once again. The person in the photo really did look like Shi Jian! But it was normal for two people in this world to look very similar…… Zhang Kai stole the photo and sent it to Emily and had her also feel it out.
Then Emily just called him and asked, “……Shi Jian has returned?”
Zhang Kai didn’t expect that Shi Jian truly returned to A-City.
The next day, Zhang Kai spotted Shi Jian at a Cantonese restaurant in A-City. He was with A-Pei who had invited a few of Yi Mao’s board members to a meal. A-Pei recently became the executive chairperson. He had to maintain his important relationships well. And he couldn’t lose any benefits that he got out of them.
On the way, Zhang Kai answered a phone call. A woman came out of the private room across from them. She was wearing a professional outfit, looking like an assistant. Her skin was so fair it was blinding, and she had short hair down to her ears…… Zhang Kai set down his phone. The woman he saw at the bar last time was indeed Shi Jian.
Shi Jian really had returned. And she was working again?! It really was a pleasantly surprising discovery…… He thought she…… Even though Zhang Kai saw the photo of Shi Jian with the Ye family, the deep impression he had of Shi Jian was when he saw her at the airport two years ago. She had been wearing a hat with her head lowered, and she was pale as if all her surroundings had turned into an ash grey.
Zhang Kai stared at her. Shi Jian also noticed him and froze for a second.
Zhang Kai was the one emotionally moved at this unexpected encounter. The one who went up and said hello was Shi Jian. She walked towards him and said, “Zhang Kai…… Long time no see.”
Zhang Kai blinked and was surprised for a long while. Then he confirmed, “……Shi Jian, it really is you!”
Shi Jian smiled and asked, “Have I changed a lot?”
Zhang Kai could not speak. His emotions were turbulent, and he was about to cry. Seeing Shi Jian in her work clothes, he naturally had to ask: “When did you come back? You’re even working? What company……?”
Zhang Kai couldn’t stay calm. He asked three questions at once. Shi Jian paused and answered the first two questions first: “I just returned recently. I just found something to do first. I’m even working in my previous career……”
Zhang Kai wanted to ask why she did not return to work at Yi Mao but the words were stopped in his throat.
Shi Jian said she was working her old career, so that meant she was working as an assistant. Zhang Kai was a bit curious as to who her boss was. Who picked up the crap that was the former most capable female assistant in Yi Mao’s general office?
Zhang Kai glanced inside the private room. Shi Jian automatically replied, “Tianhua.”
Tianhua?! Zhang Kai naturally knew about Tianhua. They were A-City’s biggest construction company. Tianhua were the contracted constructors for the Linxi Project that Yi Mao was developing. Zhang Kai had even met with President Wang of Tianhua a while ago. Unexpectedly, he didn’t know Shi Jian was working at Tianhua at all.
Shi Jian explained, “I’ve only been working two days.”
So it was like that. Zhang Kai still didn’t understand why Shi Jian didn’t return to Yi Mao. Could it be because the Yi family…… Probably not. Even though Yi Pei was a member of the Yi family, Zhang Kai didn’t think that was the reason. And Shi Jian wasn’t that kind of person. Moreover, whether Ye Jiacheng’s accident had anything to do with Yi QIndong, the Ye family did not investigate it and it wasn’t good to jump to conclusions. He only knew that after Ye Jiacheng’s accident, Yi Qindong immediately left the country. And he only came back when the Ye family firmly set their minds on the fact that the car had an unexpected malfunction. The good days did not last for long. All of his activities have been exposed and he was still locked up.
At this moment, the door to Shi Jian’s private room opened and a group of people walked out. The man in front had a sparkling head, and he was handsome in a rugged way.
He was Wang Wen, the boss of Tianhua.
Quickly, President Wang's voice drifted over and his two hands were extended, “Isn’t that Special Assistant Zhang? Hello, hello…… What a coincidence that we met here……”
Zhang Kai returned Wang Wen’s enthusiasm. So the one who picked up the crap was President Wang! Zhang Kai glanced at the private room behind him. Wang Wen hurriedly asked, “Is President Yi inside?”
“President Yi is inside.” Zhang Kai knew what President Wang meant. A-Pei was indeed inside, but the board members of Yi Mao were also inside. It was not good for them to meet here. Zhang Kai explained himself first, “President Yi is entertaining guests inside.”
Yi Pei was entertaining guests. Wang Wen understood that Zhang Kai meant it wasn’t convenient for them to meet.
Shi Jian and the people from Tianhua said their goodbyes first. Before they left, the boss of Tianhua shook Zhang Kai’s hand again, “Please say hello to President Yi for me.”
Zhang Kai: “Of course.”
Zhang Kai returned inside their private room, feeling unable to endure the tangling feelings inside his heart. He received a glance from Yi Pei and slightly lowered his head. A-Pei seemed to not have brought up Shi Jian at all in the past two years. Shi Jian was like an interlude that appeared in A-Pei’s strictly organized life. What it meant, no one knew.
As Zhang Kai accompanied Yi Pei back to the Tangquan residence, he couldn’t help but mention Shi Jian, “A-Pei, Shi Jian has returned……”
Yi Pei replied, “I know.”
Zhang Kai: “……” A-Pei knew?
Then, Yi Pei did not say much, and Zhang Kai also didn’t ask. These two years, A-Pei became more and more calm. He was originally a young but wizened man, now he had an even more steady aura. Zhang Kai had followed Yi Pei for seven or eight years now. His originally extremely extroverted personality had been reduced by a lot, and he became a male assistant with a mature aura.
There was construction on the road ahead of them and the driver had to make a detour. In the golden age, the city seemed to be undergoing rapid change each day. The international skyscrapers were being completed one by one and viaducts made roads accessible from all directions. The numbers showed in the GDP, which was increasing by twenty percent each year…… Also increasing in scale was Yi Mao’s general operations.
Yi Pei leaned back quietly. She still returned, for Tianmei Jia Park. Tianmei Jia Park was a project not yet started by Ye Mao. He had possession of Ye Mao’s stocks. He had the authority to begin the Linxi Project, justly and honorably.
Only, was it in clear conscience?
TN: Sorry for the delay on this chapter. It’s finals season and I have a lot going on.
We are almost at the end of the novel! There are five chapters remaining, plus three extra chapters. After I finish translating, I plan on going back and editing the whole thing one more time. (Which, to be honest, may or may not happen at all.)
Thank you all for sticking with me thus far. It’s been a year of learning experiences for us all, I’m sure.
There may be more delays in the final chapters. I’m not sure how busy I will be yet.
Thank you for reading!
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